GAMES.CH's Reviews
"Monster Hunter Rise" was already one of the best games on the Switch without "Sunbreak", "Sunbreak" now offers more content, more challenges and more fun. And it doesn't even stop there, because the developers have announced that more variants of existing monsters will be added in upcoming updates. If you haven't tried it yet: Now is the ideal time to dive into the bottomless "Monster Hunter" franchise and lose yourself in it.
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"Stray" had inspired the imagination of many players with his first attempts as "HK Project". The bottom line is that the final product feels far more familiar and generic than you might have hoped for from the first pictures. Nevertheless, "Stray" has its strengths, especially in the level design and in the atmosphere that it builds up again and again through great graphics and music. Playfully, the work moves rather on the easy side and offers experienced players hardly a challenge. But that's not what this is about anyway. "Stray" wants to take you into a world that is dirty and broken, and shows you again and again the bright spots of hope and the beauty that lies hidden.
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We like the basic idea of "Live a Live" with the eight characters, whose seemingly independent stories are later linked together. In combination with different settings and sometimes strongly varying game mechanics, this also results in a certain variety, but not to the extent that the title can decisively set itself apart from other JRPGs. In fact, the individual chapters are playful in themselves and sometimes too limited in the dimensions of the worlds, so that a feeling of monotony rather than a great variety arises. The bottom line is that "Live a Live" is a decent JRPG that genre fans in particular can take a look at, although for most of them, despite some special features, it will hardly have what it takes to be a must-play.
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It would be too much to say that "Xenoblade Chronicles 3" revolutionizes the series. Despite numerous innovations, especially in character development and combat system, developer Monolith Soft has the fans of the series firmly in view and does not dare any risky experiments. While fans can strike without hesitation, those players who were less fond of the combat system in the predecessors should also get their money's worth. Although the core of the system still works very similarly, Ouroboros shape, chain attacks, fusion skills, class system or even just the now up to seven-person party improve the game feeling enormously. In addition to the clearly improved game balance, it is noteworthy, especially with regard to the latter, that "Xenoblade Chronicles 3" does not clean up the occasional overview problems in combat, but also does not reinforce them. The bottom line is that "Xenoblade Chronicles 3" is not enough to become a JRPG masterpiece, but within a strong series at least for the best part so far.
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The title masters the balancing act between construction strategy game and economic simulation excellently. The popular humor of its predecessor has been excellently captured and refreshingly repackaged.
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Thymesia may look like an Indie-Developer trying to do Bloodborne, but it ends up being more than that. Thymesia seamlessly blends the fast, often frantic combat of games like Devil May Cry with a more thoughtful approach, giving the players the tools to quickly leap between enemies, while strategically switching between light and heavy attacks, as well as flashy specials. While regular combat is often a fun power fantasy, the game truly shines in its boss fights, where two equally deadly warriors dance around each other parrying and trading blows. The only sore spot in the gameplay is that there isn’t already a Thymesia 2 to sink my teeth into.
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Soul Hackers 2 is a JRPG for fans of the Devil Summoner games and Persona 5, but unfortunately struggles with boring dungeons and a story that could have been made a lot more.
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"Cult of the Lamb" can convince more as an idea than as a product. Minor defects exist at all corners and ends. The balance of the game leaves much to be desired, and it seems as if the progress of the cult is almost twice as fast as intended for the story. Nevertheless, "Cult of the Lamb" captivates not least thanks to the look and the original setting. With around ten hours of play, it is without a doubt rather short for a roguelike adventure.
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With minor swabs the Saints Row reboot maintains the madness of the series, delivering entertaining, effectfull action and humorous cutscenes and dialogue with a myriad pop cultural references. It is still not on eye level with GTA, but especially concerning customization of characters, cars or weapons, Saints Row sets a new standard for the genre.
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"Rollerdrome" is an excellent game in a genre that is now almost completely extinct.
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All in all, "Kirby's Dream Buffet" offers entertaining fun with fantastic presentation and successful sound. The only pity is the somewhat sparse circumference.
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We don't want to argue about whether "The Last of Us Part I" deserves the term remake or not. In terms of technical improvements in any case, because apart from little things that could have been done even better, the new edition looks essentially as we would expect from a native PS5 game. In essence, however, it remains the same game with the same story, the same levels and rather fine adjustments in the area of game balance.
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"SD Gundam Battle Alliance" is a nostalgia trip, even if you have nothing to do with "Gundam". Because the design of the game itself is strongly reminiscent of titles from the early 2000s
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Nine Noir Lives is a nearly purrfect point and click adventure from Silvernode Games. You play the cat-detective Cuddles Nutterbutter and his assistant Tabby Marshmalleow to investigate murder. Dark and fun at the same time, a bit messy here and then but overall, if you have a lot of time to resolve all the riddles, a great game.
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Compared to its predecessor, "Splatoon 3" certainly offers some innovations, especially for weapon and enemy types in the Salmon Run, which make the game experience more diverse and rounded. However, this does not result in radical innovations. If you have not come into contact with the series so far, "Splatoon 3" is an extremely entertaining multiplayer shooter with a unique game mechanics that continue to be very distinctive in the genre, which motivates even in the long run.
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"Steelrising" is like "Greedfall" a very positive surprise. Spiders has once again managed to put its own stamp on a very highly competitive genre. The balance of the game could certainly still be tightened, and the areas are not as impressive as we would have liked. The bottom line, however, is that "Steelrising" is one of the best Western interpretations of the "Souls" series and brings a breath of fresh air into a very rigid formula not only with a fascinating setting, but also with new elements in combat and exploration.
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Temtem follows a rather simple premise. What if Pokémon’s first generation was made today? The result is an excellent dose of nostalgia with many modernized features such as campaign co-op and a rich endgame. It’s about time Nintendo’s stagnant franchise gets serious competition and as things stand now, Temtem is the game for those who have dropped off the main Pokémon games for lack of innovation and challenge. A relatively low price and a ton of very polished content makes this an easy recommendation.
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Return to Monkey Island is no high flyer, but a good classical adventure game, far away from disappointment. Essentially it is fan service pure. That's a huge benefit for lovers of Guybrush's adventures, but series beginners don't really profit from the mass of allusions in any area. The great puzzle design or the top voice-over do not change anything about that.
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NBA 2K23 leaves us torn: On the one hand, it’s an almost perfect simulation of the sport delivering a high amount of detail and gameplay-value. On the other hand, the experience is heavily harmed by microtransactions and in-game advertisements.
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While the combat isn't quite as fluid as its big siblings, and the graphic style takes some time to get used to, at its core, Soulstice is a very good action game with a solid, albeit predictable, story.
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